Hello we're newbies from NC

Hi, My husband and recently bought land in the NC foothills. We call it our Kindle Hill for that is what it does for us. The former owner had cleared a part of it by knocking down every tree in his way.  That amounted to just about all of them.  He have worked the last two years trying stop the erosion.  With many of the trees he knocked down we built a small log cabin shed.  We have ram pump that brings water from the creek 500' below(140' vertically! amazing)  We have parked an Airstream, the rusty cabin, until we are in the position to build... And this site is so amazing, so inspiring!!! This can recharge us so we can keep going  My husband is loving the earth(underground?) homes. But our next task is a septic system We have even toyed with idea of digging it our selves.
I just hate the thought of big machinery ripping up our precious hill again
  Are there any thoughts on this?
              Thank you for all your wisdom and... yes thank you for such a great website!

Wow, with so much lovely praise.....

So, do you have pics?

What sort of stuff have you built in the past?

Did you see my "house of soil" thread?

What sorts of resources do you have?

Maybe you should edit your first post so that the title reads "looking for ideas for something to build in NC"

the idea of tearing up a bunch of ground for a septic system is always depressing. especially if you are already having erosion problems. maybe you could look into engineered wetlands for your waste disposal? it isn't completely free of dirt work but at least the whole design includes incorporating plants back into the system.
http://www.rideau-info.com/local/septic-wetlands.html

Great to hear that you too are also newbies in NC. We are as well.........we have land in Old Fort, right outside of Asheville and moved to the area in a tent. Since, we have built a pallette house, repaired the water pump, brought some storage sheds on the property, dismantled an airstream covered in that foam spray stuff, and are in the process of building an underground greenhouse. We would love to hear more about what you are doing....sounds very interesting. Where are you located??